The Rugby gazette and east Tennessee news. (Rugby, Morgan Co., Tenn.) 1884-188?, 1887-01-15

Nuoio'iI 10 O''ots lioy III VIC lukeU
nothing from the water, aud the only
work done by the A nerican bred sing
Company, ,.of tho contractors, is to
dig a out nine miles to depth Of TWEEN
ty-oae feet. After careful survey,
am satisfied it aill take $S00,00O,000
to complete the work. As regards labor
they have not more than 5000 negroes
at work, and they cannot d, as much
Is 200 men can here. Sickness and
death have moved down men along the
line fearfully. You ln'the States have
no conception of the sacrifice Of life out
there. Why, the company has built a
hospital meas Panama costing nearly
sl,500,o00, and it is probably as 6ne as
anything in Europe, With all its great
recommendations it is constantly fall.
60 give You an idea of what obsta,
cles the company will have to overcome
| will tell you of one instance of the
mistakes in calculation they have made
At the Panama eud of the canal there
is swamp about six miles in length,
the contract for dredging which was
IIvcn ont to the. Franco American
Trading Company of New York. They
sent out six large dredges, three of which
we're pur together and operations com
menced. They had hardly started when
it was discovered that this swamp wa
'nly eigAt feet deep, and beneath it
WIS the solid rock. which will cost $l4
a cnbic metre to eXcavate. All this was
II It looked for.
"Cnlebra cut, the hardest and deep
est along the whole line, is Progressing
very, very slowly. Here they have t.
cut through four hundred feet, aud the
sill is one tangIe Of boiling springs
What is done one day is filled up the
next, nnl they have no means Of carry
ing Oft the material eXcavated. At Bas
Obispo and Haunt Obispo the cuttings
are nearl Y all through soil lrack, which
will have to be taken out down to u
depth Of twenty-nine feet below sea le-
vi, liter they get down to water level
powerful steam pumps have to be kept
ut work to free the excavations, very
costly work.
"Ihe difficulties in the way of the
work have already been pretty clearly
shown, bat it is not this only that will
retard the canals progress. The extra
vasance aud waste of money hy the ca
MI officials are something surprising
b lief Why, enough IS wasted in ma
terial that is never used, to build the
Nicaragua Canal. Steel rails by tons.
new locomotives aud engines are left
on the roadside, rlsting in the heavy
rains, Nobody seems to care much What
bee mes of material. The officers of the
c mpany live in elegant style, with
plenty OF servants. The director and
subordinate chiefs drive cut every a,-
ternoon in their double teams. import
I'd there, and assume all the airs Of DO
entates. | have seen three aud four
" tchmen put on TO watch goods where
he salary Of the watchmen was more
han the value Of the goods.
sit seems that all employed look ND
"a the work as good spree, from which
hey can make 'm9 money, bat nobody
works as if he anticipated .he scheme
o be completed. They bought Ferli-
land Wards steam yacht in New York
ind brought her out there. This was Il
waste of money, for they had all sorts
It steam craft there already. They
bought house for the Director General
or $4,000, aud shortly afterward
'llt one for him at cost OF $50. 900
they built another at Colon for him
'nd one for De Lesseps, which COS.
100000 apiece.
cit is remarkable how little work
he men there can do. Just after the
ire | hal portable engine on the
wharf and had to move it. | took faw
nen aut put it in the car in a sh-t
lme. Aiterward it was necessary for
ne company to take it of the car. and
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